1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved grip for golf clubs.
2. Description of Prior Art
Applicant has previously developed resilient grips which successfully reduce impact shock to the muscle and arm joints of the user's of golf clubs and also provide a feeling of tackiness between a player's hands and the grip. See for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,797,813 granted to Applicant on Aug. 25, 1998. Such earlier grips utilize a polyurethane-felt strip which is spirally wrapped around an underlisting sleeve that is slipped onto and adhered to a golf club handle. The sides of the strips are formed with overlapping heat depressed recessed reinforcement edges. While such grips have proven satisfactory in reducing impact shock, their fabrication is labor intensive, particularly since the strip must be wrapped manually about the underlisting sleeve within specific pressure parameters. Additionally, it is difficult to accurately align the adjoining side edges of the strip as such strip is being spirally wrapped about underlisting sleeve. The strip of such wrapped grips can become twisted during the wrapping process. This is a particularly difficult problem when wrapping putter grips. These wrapped grips also do not lend themselves to the display of decorative designs.
While prior art polyurethane/felt grips have been developed that provide the desired shock absorption properties, the felt material is prone to absorbing water. Accordingly, the grip will tend to absorb the perspiration from the user's hand and may become saturated during play thereby causing slippage of the golf club or tennis racquet in the user's hands. The same problem occurs under wet conditions such as when playing golf in the rain. In an effort to address this problem, Applicant has used EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer) as a substitute for the felt substrate. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,627,027 granted to Applicant on Sep. 30, 2003.